Private views and observations on physics, society and
life in general

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Hamming's advice

There are frequent discussions at coffee and at lunchabout research and its quality, and how to improve it,and of course what the role of the individual is. Theseare, of course, imponderables and no one really knowsthe answers to these questions. It is true that a lotof great research took place in times of great ferment,during war-time and during the cold-war, and it isprobably as much to do with socio-politico-economicconditions as with the drive of individuals that leadsto truly exceptional results. But there really are,and sadly, no short-cuts.

Many years ago someone forwarded a file containing thetranscript of a talk given by Richard Hamming. I havenever found a better discussion on the subject. Of course,it is anecdotal and talks about many specific instancesbut there is a lot to learn from this talk. There are alsoquestions that come in about the relevance of a givenindividuals work and the circumstances in which he orshe finds himself or herself, the historical times, the relevanceand so on. But there are some inescapable points in thistalk that stick in my mind: